VRX Silica (ASX: VRX) progresses with environmental approvals process for Arrowsmith North

Highlights

• VRX has marked a crucial development progressing its environmental approval process for Arrowsmith North.
• The period of Public Environmental Review (PER) has closed.
• The company’s PER responses have been submitted to the Environmental Protection Authority of WA for consideration.

VRX Silica Limited (ASX: VRX) has marked a major development progressing its efforts towards securing environmental approvals for Arrowsmith North Silica Sand Project, Western Australia.

On 9 June 2023, the company informed that the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER) had accepted the Environmental Review Document (ERD) for the proposal for publication and a four-week PER.

The PER period closed on 16 July 2023, and in early September, the company received a summary of the public submissions from the DWER.

Making progress to the next stage of the process, VRX has lodged its responses to the public submissions for consideration by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) of Western Australia.

Now, the EPA would consider the responses lodged in consultation with VRX, preparing an assessment report in respect of the proposal, which would be submitted to the Western Australian Environment Minister.

Gaining environment approval for the project is crucial for the company as well as linked to its ability to obtain other required approvals for mining.

Shares up over 5%

VRX shares traded 5.08% higher at AU$0.093 apiece at the time of writing on 31 October 2023.

More on the environmental approval process

The proposal comprises-

Data source: Company update

The access road, water pipeline and freshwater supply bore will lie within the Access Development Envelope (ADE), while other infrastructure will come under the Mine Development Envelope (MDE).

Data source: Company update

The company has been undertaking extensive environmental studies on its projects over several seasons since 2017, in line with the expected requirements by the State and Commonwealth environmental regulation authorities for approval assessments.

The initial focus has been on gaining approval for the Arrowsmith North Project.

Data source: Company update